Fakir and Sahajma spread the Baul magic

Image: The couple in the image have nothing to do with the couple in the report

Walk down a narrow south Kolkata lane of Jadavpur to meet the happening baul couple of Utpal Fakir and Sahajma whose impassioned 'Allah Meherban Khuda, Khuda Meherban' took the musical world by storm.

While Sahajma sings, her husband Fakir, in his mid 40s, writes the songs and composes the music. Sahajma is a history graduate from the city's St. Xavier's College and Fakir did his masters in Bengali. Both changed their real names in keeping with the Baul nomenclature.

Baul thought has mixed elements of Tantra, Sufi Islam, Vaishnavism and Buddhism. It is thought to have been influenced by the Hindu tantric sect of the Kartabhajas as well as Tantric Buddhist schools like the Sahajia.